Alleged Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada on Friday waved a court appearance in El Paso federal court and pleaded not guilty to charges that led to his arrest this week.
Court records show Zambada was scheduled to go before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton at 8 a.m. on Friday to be informed of the charges and instructed of his rights under the American judicial system. However, Dallas-based attorney Frank Perez filed a waiver of appearance and entered a plea of “not guilty” on behalf of his clients, court documents filed U.S. District Court for the District of West Texas show.
Zambada is now scheduled for arraignment — which he can also waive — on July 31 and an Aug. 1 status conference hearing before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone for which he must show up in person. The West Texas drug, conspiracy, and running criminal enterprise charges against Zambada date back to 2012. He also has pending cases in New York, Illinois, the District of Columbia, and California.
Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested Thursday in El Paso, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed.
Garland and Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram characterized the arrests as a major blow against a transnational criminal organization flooding American communities with the deadly drug fentanyl and other illicit substances that net the cartel billions of dollars in profits.
And while Zambada remains in El Paso, Guzman Lopez was flown out of the city early Friday to face prosecution in Chicago.
How the two major cartel players ended up in El Paso remains a mystery.
The Mexican government on Friday said it did not participate in the arrest or surrender. But its leaders said the U.S. actions are in line with binational cooperation to combat the scourge of fentanyl. They also floated a theory of how the airplane in which they were passengers ended up in the United States.
“Did we participate? No, the Government of Mexico did not take part in this detention or surrender. That is not the case. But we will continue to collaborate as we have done so far,” Mexican Public Safety Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez said Friday in a news conference broadcast on YouTube.
Rodriguez showed images of Zambada and Guzman Lopez in U.S. custody.
The secretary said the U.S. Embassy in Mexico notified her office of the apprehensions at 3:30 p.m. Mexico City time on Thursday. She said the embassy later told her the identities of the suspects had been confirmed through fingerprints and other biometric information.
Source: OEM
